News Nosh 05.01.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Sunday May 01, 2016
 
Quote of the day:
"Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies."
--Slogan on the back of t-shirts worn by workers at the famous Arab family - owned Aboulafia bakery in Jaffa, as seen in photo in Maariv. The family set up the 'Aboulafia Coexistence Association.'**


Front Page:
Haaretz
Yedioth Ahronoth
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
Israel Hayom
 
News Summary:
Israeli papers reported on a crisis in relations between Israel and Germany, which Israel denied, and about the ‘anti-Semitic decaying’ of the British Labor party after controversial statements by two members. Also high in the news, Israelis (especially politicians) celebrated the Mimouna festival marking the end of Passover and left a lot of garbage behind during there Passover holiday outdoor trips.
 
Barely mentioned in the news, Israel rejected the French initiative to convene an international peace conference,
and the Israeli Prime Minister's Office called for direct talks and bilateral negotiations. But PLO Chairman Saeb Erekat said bilateral negotiations would be 'coercion by an apartheid government.'  Erekat also called on Israel to cease Area A operations.
 
According to Der Spiegel, Germany believes Israel is indeed on the way to becoming an apartheid state. The weekly magazine reported Friday about German government concern that the Israeli government's settlement policy was rendering the two-state solution impossible and would turn Israel into an apartheid state and that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was using Germany's friendship to continue the occupation and that the German government had lost all hope that Netanyahu would advance the peace process. According to the German weekly, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she "understands why Abbas always wants to turn to the UN Security Council.” But Israel officials insisted that relations with Germany remained strong. Nevertheless, with the exception of Israel Hayom, the Israeli papers seemed pretty convinced that there was a crisis in relations between Germany and Israel.
 
The Israeli papers accused the British Labour party of becoming ‘rotten’ after Labour MP Ken Livingstone said Hitler supported Zionism 'before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews’ and it was revealed that before becoming a member of Parliament, MP Naz Shah posted a photo of a relocated Israel on US territory, and wrote: 'Problem solved.’ Livingstone was suspended. Opposition leader and head of Israel’s Labor party, Isaac Herzog, invited British Labour leadership to 'learn the truth' at Israel’s Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem.

Only Haaretz+ followed up on the incident of the killing of two Palestinian siblings at Qalandiya checkpoint, whereby witnesses refuted the Israeli police claim that Maram Abu Ismayil, 23, a pregnant mother of two, and her 16-year-old brother Ibrahim refused their request to stop and posed a threat to officers. Haaretz+ reported that the police refused to release the video documenting the incident. Both the cabinet of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ and Hamas denounced the silence of the international community over what they called ‘executions.’
 
Meanwhile, two female Palestinians allegedly tried to stab Israeli soldiers at a military checkpoint near the Israeli Highway 443 that runs through the West Bank. Troops shot one of them and caught the other without shooting her. Haaretz reported the two were ‘women,’ Maariv reported they were 14 and 15 years old and Israel Hayom reported that one was a minor and one an adult. Israel Hayom also reported that “the Israel Police instructed its forces to avoid clashing with Muslim worshipers on the Temple Mount as much as possible, so as not to escalate tensions at the sensitive hilltop compound.”
 
Quick Hits: 
  • President Rivlin to consider granting clemency to former president Moshe Katsav - Moshe Katsav's attorneys and family claim his mental health is seriously deteriorating. Rivlin's office denies he ever supported Katsav's early release: 'I will state my position if and when it becomes necessary.' (Ynet)
  • Turkish PM: If Israel Agrees to Solve Gaza Utilities Crisis, We’ll Sign Reconciliation Deal - Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says talks with Israel at very advanced stage; sides due to meet again in mid-May. (Haaretz+)
  • Egyptian Salafist under fire for meeting with Israelis - High ranking Salafi Islamist leader Jiah a-Shimi is under fire from his party in Egypt after meeting with a Jewish interfaith delegation. A-Shimi: 'goal of the meeting was to show the tolerance of the Islamic religion.' The three Jewish scholars were Rabbi Yaakov Nagen from Otniel, Orthodox peace activist Rebecca Abramson, and Jewish religious scholar Professor Joseph Ringel. (Ynet and personal account by one of participants in Jewish Press)
  • **Tonight they all got chametz - Masses from across the country charged teh bakeries last night with the end of the Passover holiday and Sabbath, and bought enormous amounts of baked goods. On the way to the Aboulafia Bakery in Jaffa, which was closed throughout the Passover holiday, enormous traffic jams piled up. (Maariv, p. 17)
  • Nine Israelis sue police for violating their rights during 2009 anti-draft protest - Police admitted they had orders to prevent the demonstration in support of draft evaders, citing the event's proximity to Memorial Day. (Haaretz+) 
  • Initiative of MK David Bitan is underway: a petition asking to give a pardon to Elor Azariah (the Shooting Soldier from Hebron) - The Likud Knesset member will getting people to sign the petition to President Rivlin, calling to pardon the soldier accused of killing a neutralized terrorist in Hebron. "We must support our troops," stressed Bitan. (Maariv
  • Bennett responds publicly to PM's threat of dismissal - A week after Netanyahu threatened to fire the education minister during a cabinet meeting, Bennett addressed the incident defiantly on social media. (Ynet
  • Watch: Riots in Kafr Manda - In the lead up to council elections, riots have broken out in Kafr Manda in the western Galilee Friday. The riots continue despite pleas from desperate residents to stop the violence. (Ynet)
  • Gay Couple Wounded in Homophobic Attack in Israeli Resort Town of Eilat - Couple say a group of youths mocked them and then accosted them for their sexual orientation, but police say confrontation seems to have been mutually pursued. (Haaretz+)
  • Eurovision bans Palestinian flag - The venue of the 2016 song contest released a document listing banned flags and banners, which includes disputed territories' flags and any non-UN member flag. (Yedioth/Ynet and Maariv)
  • Palestinians demand apology from Eurovision - After a document was leaked banning the flags of any non-UN member state, including the Palestinian flag, from the song contest, the PLO has denounced the 'shameful, totally biased and unacceptable decision.' (Agencies, Ynet)
  • Palestinians angry with the Asian Football Confederation - One month after 9 Arab Israeli soccer players were refused entry to Lebanon for a match, the AFC declared them the losers and fined them $20,000. (Agencies, Ynet
  • Two Israeli Bedouin Students Reportedly Kidnapped for Ransom and Then Released in Turkey - The family had received a $200,000 ransom demand, which had not been paid, the father of one of the students said. (Haaretz and Maariv)
  • Photos of the Holy Land from the 19th century sell for $1.4 million - The collection includes pictures of Jerusalem and the Galilee, some of which date back to 1840. (Ynet and Israel Hayom
  • 'There is less freedom of press in US than in Israel' - Freedom House slammed for downgrading designation of Israeli media from "free" to "partly free" • "It is time to downgrade Freedom House from 'not stupid' to 'mostly stupid,'" says one critic. Likud MK: Israeli media is fully pluralistic and democratic. (Israel Hayom
  • West Bank truck accident kills 5 members of Palestinian family - A Palestinian tanker truck turned over, colliding with another vehicle. Both caught fire, leading to the deaths of four adults and a child. (Ynet
  • A hot summer for Ben Gurion International - Ben Gurion International Airport will have a busy summer, with airlines from Turkish Airways to Ethiopian Airlines increasing their flights to the Jewish State. (Yedioth/Ynet
  • Iranians Vote in Key Runoff Elections Which Could Give Moderates Control of Parliament - Vote for the remaining 68 positions in the 290-seat chamber will decide how much power allies of moderate President Rohani will yield. (Agencies, Haaretz
  • ISIS attack on Israeli Embassy in Rome thwarted - Italian authorities arrest four Islamic extremists, issue warrants for two others, after plot to attack the Vatican and several foreign embassies is discovered • "There was a serious intention to hit Italy," Interior Minister Angelino Alfano says. (Israel Hayom
  • Newly Unearthed Version of Elie Wiesel's Seminal Work Is a Scathing Indictment of God, Jewish World - In Wiesel’s uncensored Hebrew 'Night' manuscript, unveiled here for the first time, the author expresses desire to take revenge on the Hungarians, lashes out at fellow Jews and describes sexual scenes from the train to Auschwitz. (Haaretz+) 


Features: 
How the IDF eliminates border targets
The commanders at the 'Canopy of Fire' command and control center use flat screen TVs to monitor Israel's borders with Lebanon and Syria, from where they make split-second decisions on opening fire on infiltrators, terror cells, or cannons firing at the Golan Heights. (Yoav Zitun, Ynet)
What It's Like to Be a 12-year-old Palestinian Girl in Israeli Jail
D., who was released from prison this week, was incarcerated in one cell with six other girls; now she’s dreaming about the boy she met for a moment in the prisoners van. (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) 
Anti-hero: the story of Grandma Samra, who frightened even Ben Gurion
Grandma Samra was born and raised blind in the city of Mosul on the banks of the Tigris River in Iraq, now a stronghold of Daesh. She raised eight children, fed the needy of Tiberias and even managed to put one into the Ashkenazi Mapainik establishment. (Yossi Yosef, Maariv)
The untold stories of Israel's diplomats
A new book sheds light on the less glamorous side of Israeli diplomacy: security officer Danny Biran recounts how he searched for his wife through the rubble of the Buenos Aires embassy after the 1992 terror bombing, while consul Stella Rapp tells of how she organized a Seder for an Israeli prisoner in Switzerland; and deputy consul general Rogel Rahman writes of the daring operation to rescue a hostage at the Berlin consulate. (Itamar Eichner, Yedioth)
IN PHOTOS: Thousands attend Holy Fire ceremony in Jerusalem
Christians converge on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to carry candles lit by holy fire. (AP, Haaretz)
All inclusive: Meet the leftist organization that determined the contents of the training courses of police officers in Israel
For years, The Abraham Fund, an organization with a political agenda that is rooted deep in the Left, won the right to provide some training courses to senior police officials. It also funded overseas trips for them. ([Right-wing commentator – OH] Kalman Libeskind, Maariv)
What Happened to the Israeli Singer Who Dared Curse Arabs on Television
In 1973, Aliza Kashi was banned by the then-monopolistic local media. From her L.A. home, the 80-year-old yearns for the country that rejected her. (Ofer Aderet, Haaretz+)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
If Merkel Also Criticizes Israel, Life Is Not a Bowl of Kirschen (Barak Ravid, Haaretz+) The Israeli reaction to Der Spiegel's report on the German chancellor's frustration with Netanyahu was ridiculous, even Orwellian; as if Israelis were aliens who had just landed from another planet.
Boycott Is the Only Way to Stop the Israeli Occupation (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Aluf Benn's proposal for Israel's left to establish a base of domestic support for its positions is hopeless considering the brainwashing, ignorance, blindness, the good life, lack of opposition and increasing extremism of our society. 
The unwritten security constitution (Yoaz Hendel, Yedioth/Ynet) In place of a written constitution, Israel has its security interests. As a result, shifting security concerns dictate varying courses of actions rather than a set, predictable system of values.
Why Britain’s Labour Party Has Suddenly Become Synonymous With anti-Semitism (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz) When senior party members spout vile anti-Jewish theories and at the same time insist they are in no way anti-Semites, they truly believe they are not lying.
From freedom to enslavement (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) The incitement against Israel these days is reminiscent of the incitement against Jews in the 1930s. But there is a difference: This time, many Jews are joining the chorus of cries against the Jewish state.
When Arabs Were Freedom Fighters for Israel (Salman Masalha, Haaretz+) There was a time when 'Israeli independence' was the chief focus of the left’s leaders, Jews and Arabs alike. 
Saudi Arabia's subtle hints (Smadar Perry, Yedioth/Ynet) The kingdom's moves in the Straits of Tiran point to a policy of Iranian containment and an attempt to use the Levant and North Africa region as defensive back, and point to quiet, strategic relations without the need for normalization.
Netanyahu, Accept the French Peace Initiative (Haaretz Editorial) Even if it doesn’t resolve the fundamentals of the conflict, the French initiative will at least put it back on the global agenda. And it may generate some original ideas and steps toward a solution.
The loss of deterrence, the loss of the way (Ronen Bergman, Yedioth/Ynet) There's a direct connection between the knife attacks, Hamas's attack tunnels, the recent foiling of countless of terror attacks and the bus bombing in Jerusalem last week. Israel is losing its deterrence, and its government doesn’t know what to do next.
Freedom and enslavement on Passover (Yaron London, Yedioth/Ynet) Passover is also called the holiday of freedom. But is this true liberty, or are we simply unable to see the shackles we’ve placed on our own feet?
Entebbe the Musical, Starring, Directed and Produced by Benjamin Netanyahu (Amir Oren, Haaretz+) The prime minister will use his visit to Africa to strengthen his family’s cult of the individual. 
Revisiting the Jordan option (Sever Plocker, Yedioth/Ynet) The Palestinian leadership has proven itself averse to actively running a state and founding a sovereign Palestinian country. Therefore, the only option left is to return the West Bank to Jordan. 
President Trump? The world will have to get a safety belt (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) Since a series of victories that brought him close to being the presidential candidate of the Republican Party, the references to Trump inside the diplomatic community in New York have changed from expressions of ridicule and rejection to expressions of concern and fear. 
Livingstone’s Nonsense on Hitler Nonetheless Touches Raw Zionist Nerve (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) The explosive dilemma of 'collaboration' with the Nazis in order to save German Jews split the Zionist movement in the 1930s. 
What happens when you let the Shin Bet do its work (Alex Fishman, Yedioth/Ynet) The moment politicians stopped turning a blind eye, and the legal system quit buckling under pressure, Jewish terrorism finally started being handled properly. 
Canceling the tender (for homes sold to Arabs) in Afula: The Arabs and the municipality are on the same side, so who is the racist? (Kalman Libeskind, Maariv) It’s a little strange to make claims of racism, when you remember that the Israel Lands Authority fought for the Arabs, who coordinated their pricing, would win. So who here is the bigot? The President of the court in Nazareth? 
One Legal System, for Both Israelis and Palestinians (Shuki Friedman, Haaretz+) The temporary status of the occupation cannot be used to impede the resolution of the distorted legal situation in the West Bank.
The Left's loss of control (Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom) The authors of the new Freedom House report, which downgraded Israel's press freedom, are either full of chutzpah or blind to reality.
How Long Will the West Let the Russia-Syria Alliance Massacre Civilians in Aleppo? (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) The fighting highlights how Russia is winning at the West's expense, and underscores the paradox in which the West (together with Russia) focuses on ISIS while Assad regime continues to kill Syrian civilians in much greater numbers. 
 
Interviews:
Head of J Street Israel refuses to take the blame for lack of peace
Yael Patir, Israel director of the left-leaning U.S. Jewish body, sat down with Haaretz to talk about Trump, the gap between U.S. and Israeli Jews, and the growing anger at the Israeli peace camp. Though she concedes boycott efforts by some on the left have a negative effect, she rejects calls to keep peace efforts local. (Interviewed by Rotem Starkma in Haaretz+) 

IDF colonel: Hebron soldier had 'no need to shoot'
Six colonels discuss
the reduction in number of terrorist attacks, the Hebron shooting incident, IDF morale and how soldiers' access to information has changed since their first days. (Interviewed by Yossi Yehoshua, Yedioth/Ynet)
 
What Israel's next war will look like
The outgoing head of the IDF's computers and communications branch, Maj. Gen. Uzi Moscovitch, outlines the army's approach to cyber warfare and dealing with Hamas and Hezbollah in future confrontations. (Interviewed by Amos Harel in Haaretz+)


 
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.